Lay Flat Photobooks

Find out more about our lay-flat photographic paper books.

Lay-flat bound books have been steadily growing in popularity over the past few years. They are perfect for any book where you want your image to flow across a double page spread, as there is no loss of visibility down the centre of the spine.

Bob Books lay-flat books are made using genuine photographic paper, combining traditional photographic printing with state-of-the-art manufacturing. This is why Bob Books is the UK's number one supplier of lay-flat photographic paper books.

We offer 3 different types of photographic papers; the Lustre photographic,Gloss photographic and Matte photographic. These premium quality photo papers are lay-flat bound and allow you full flexibility when it comes to designing your photobook.

Our photographic paper books are produced using a silver halide photographic process. Your images are exposed onto the photographic paper and then developed through traditional chemical photographic processes. The pages are then bound using our unique lay-flat binding to show off double page spreads at their best. The turn around time for our photographic papers is 10-12 working days.

Remember if you want to order a lay-flat photobook with Bob Books, you must choose either lustre photographic, gloss photographic or matte photographic paper for your book. Our other paper types are only available perfect bound.

Lustre Photographic

Our original photographic paper, the lustre photographic paper gives a semi-gloss finish and the slight texture of the paper softens and gives a vibrant glow to your images. The 300gsm paper weight gives and lovely thickness to your book.

Available in all our photobook sizes except for large portrait. With the wrap around hardback cover, you can really create a substantial and weighty looking book with the lustre photographic paper.

The properties of this paper type make it ideally suited for wedding photobooks, landscapes, memory and heirloom books as well as portfolios and travel books. The lustre photographic paper boasts outstanding image quality and vibrant colours and is available in all of our book making software tools.

Gloss Photographic

The gloss photographic paper really brings out the vibrancy and depth of colour in your images with its high-shine professional finish. Also 300gsm and with a lay-flat binding, it is ideal for showcasing travel, animal and landscape images, particularly going across a double page spread.

Available in all our photobook sizes except the large portrait, and with the hardback cover, you can create a truly premium quality photobook. The gloss photographic paper book can be created using the Bob Designer desktop software, the Online Book Creator and Pdf-to-book.

Matte Photographic

The matte photographic paper is our newest paper type, currently only availabe in the PDF-to-Book software. At 300gsm and with the lay-flat binding, it offers a soft, matte finish, perfect for portraits, portfolios and life style images.

Available in hardback only, and in all our size formats excluding large portrait, you can now enjoy a true matte finish with lay-flat binding. The matte photographic paper book is not currently available in the Bob Designer desktop software, iPad App or the Online Book Creator.

Why choose lay-flat

Unlike our classic, gloss-coated and matte papers which are digitally printed and perfect bound like a tradition book, our photographic papers are exposed prints (similar technique to photographs). This really bring out the depth and vibrancy of your images and the lay-flat binding is ideal for having an image across a double page spread as there is no gutter, meaning the image is printed completely uninterrupted across the spine. Making it the perfect option for landscapes, panoramas, full bleed images and group shots that you want to be displayed over a double page spread, as none of the image is lost in the spine of the book.

At 300 gsm our photographic papers are the thickest we offer. This gives a substantial weight and feel to your photobooks and also makes your book spine a lot thicker than a digitally printed photobook of the same number of pages. The photographic papers are only available in hardback and in all of our size formats (except large portrait).